Are the Cincinnati Reds done rebuilding? Has this historic baseball town undergone the necessary roster and managerial changes to become a contender? Signs may point in the right direction but there is plenty of work to be done.
The good, the bad and the ugly facts about the Reds don’t require any investigative journalism as they are clear to every Cincy fan.
The Good
Good news! The Reds have some promising young talent like Luis Castillo, Scooter Gennett and Billy Hamilton. Even better news! They still have Joey Votto and Homer Bailey on their roster. The good news is simply put that if the Reds play their cards right they might be able to turn around a team that seems to live at the bottom of the National League Central the way Davy Jones lives at the bottom of the sea.
After starting off the season with an impressively bad start, the Reds have cycled through rotations and managers and seem to have found some promise in their current configuration, albeit glimmers, and Jim Riggleman has demonstrated the ability to handle adversity and ‘wriggle’ (sorry I couldn’t resist) out from under a historically inept start to a season and motivate his team to play well.
The Bad
Riggleman didn’t start coaching the team until long after Cincinnati had begun organizing the furniture in the National League basement in preparation for a long stay. They have shown glimmers of greatness but glimmers don’t win enough games.
The Ugly
The Reds fanbase got bad news regarding Canadian star Joey Votto after he was placed on the disabled list. Hopefully, this won’t affect his future with the team next season. The other ugly fact about the Reds is that they have fallen victim to baseball in August. You are either headed to the playoffs or you are already planning on watching football this fall. For Cincinnati fans’ sake, let’s hope the Bengals have figured out their problems and have addressed those via the 2018 NFL draft